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Where I live, school starts up Monday, which means today is an action-packed day. After we make our hundredth trip to Target for another round of bradded, pocketed folders, I get to go do my very favorite summer activity: watching the kids swim in the pool.

I love taking my kids to our neighborhood pool. They bump into friends they haven’t seen since school let out. They have fun. They get some exercise. (It drives me crazy to see kids lounging on the couch watching Spongebob.) And me? I get to read!! Summer is really the only time that I get to make a dent in my always-growing To Be Read Pile.

This summer I nudged aside all the literary tomes I’ve been meaning to tackle in favor of commercial fiction. I discovered some new authors that friends have been recommending for years (thanks Allison Brennan!). All summer long I enjoyed a steady diet of fun and entertaining mysteries, romances, and thrillers. Lots of escapist fiction, which I just adore.

A few of the titles I’d like to recommend to you are: The Watchman by Robert Crais, about a PI who gets called in to protect an obnoxious Los Angeles diva; Act of Treason by Vince Flynn, in which Flynn’s famous character Mitch Rapp helps unravel a presidential assasination plot; and Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter, a harrowing and emotionally charged novel in her Grant County series.

Read any good books by the pool or elsewhere this summer? Anything you’d like to recommend?

Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered to win a signed copy of my latest book TWISTED. Have a great weekend!

What’s not to like a place where you can find free books, new magazines, and a cozy chair in which to read them, far removed from the distractions of your daily life?

I’m talking about your local library. I’m very sentimental about mine and have been ever since my kids were little. During the dog days of summer, the library was an oasis for me. I’d bring my bored, restless toddlers in for story time in the fabulously air-conditioned space. We’d peruse the shelves and find some new children’s books and DVDs to take home for the week. And then I’d swing into the fiction section to pick out a few titles for myself so I’d have an excuse not to fold laundry during the kids’ naptimes. For me, the library became a special place that offered me a connection with my community when I was a frazzled new mom.

But for many people, a library is much more than that. For suspense author Karin Slaughter and others who grew up in underprivileged households, libraries were more than a luxury–they were a lifeline. “A library is the beating heart of any community,” Slaughter tells International Thriller Writers webzine, The Big Thrill.

Slaughter and others are spearheading a project called Save The Libraries and they have a startling message to share: For 85 percent of kids living in rural America, the only place to access books or technology outside the classroom is the public library. And meanwhile, libraries today are suffering as municipalities and charities alike tighten their belts.

March 12 marks the kickoff event for the project, which has the backing of many popular suspense authors, including Lee Child, Iris Johansen, and Lisa Scottoline. The first event benefits the DeKalb County Public Library in Georgia and an event in June benefits the Boston Public Library system. The hope is to spread the effort to communities across the country whose libraries are having to layoff staff and shrink collections due to money shortages. International Thriller Writers and other groups are supporting the effort, and the eventual goal is to host events that will raise money for libraries all across America.

If you’d like to help, just leave a comment today on the blog about the library in your life–could be past or present. For every commenter today, I will make a $1 donation to Save The Libraries. So comment! Pass the word! Tweet it from the rooftops! Let’s help those libraries!

In the words of Lisa Scottoline, “A library is the home for the imagination.”

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.